Japanese traders' sentiments improve slightly

Japanese business sentiments towards the Philippines slightly improved this month but remained in the negative territory, the latest poll by the Japan External Trade Relations Organization showed. In its monthly poll released Wednesday, Jetro said the Philippines' diffusion index for this month was -7.6, better than the -13.7 rating the country received in February. The negative score means negative sentiments towards the country outnumbered positive ones. Japanese companies also gave the Philippines an outlook rating of 0, an improvement from its latest grade. Firms in the electric and electronic machinery sector were the most pessimistic with a -20 DI, followed by those in construction and real estate with -16.7 DI. Jetro polls the companies to measure year-on-year changes in their business outlooks for the current month and the next two to three months. The Jetro poll also showed that the overall sentiment toward the Southeast Asian countries included in the poll (the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia) improved only slightly, with the index gaining 0.2 points over the previous month to stand at -6.1. "This reflects continued slow overseas demand for electric/electronic equipment. By country, current indices for all locations, with the exception of Singapore and the Philippines, remained depressed in this month's survey," Jetro said.-Cheryl Arcibal, GMANews.TV